Valve



Feb. 1, 1944.

0. c. MARTIN VALV E Original Filed March 11, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet J m llINVENTOR 07/5 6. MART/1V Feb. 1, 1944. o. c. MARTIN R ,42

v VALVE I Original Filed March l1.'1940' 2 Sheets-Shee t 2 V fmlllllINVENTOR 07/5 MAAT/A/ I v ATI'OR as... Feb. 1, 1944 Q rial No. 323,376,March 11, 1940.

Application for reissue March 31, 1943, Serial No. 481,353

4 Claims. (Cl. 217-20)- I My invention relates to valves and hasparticular reference to a valve for controlling hydraulic or pneumaticpressure.

In fluid operated power apparatus, the types of valves which haveheretofore been used have been for the most part relatively large, heavyand cumbersome pieces of apparatus and have required the completedisconnection of the valves from the pipe lines whenever repairs arerequired.

In many industries the fluid power apparatus requirements are such thata relatively large number of valves must be conveniently located at asingle control station so that such large and weighty pieces ofapparatus are not readily adaped for compact mounting in a. singlecontrol station.

For example, many of the functions of modern airplanes are controlled byeither hydraulic or pneumatic power apparatus, the valves forcontrolling which must be located in the pilot's compartment and, as canbe readily appreciated. not

tremely light and extremely small so as to permit I the ready mountingof large numbers of the valves in a small space.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve of the characterset forth in the preceding paragraph wherein the operating parts of thevalves are readily accessible, and more particularly may be readilyremoved and replaced without requiring the disconnection of any of thepipe lines.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve of the characterset forth which is readily adapted to use in connection with othercontrol apparatus and in which a relatively small movement of anoperating lever or handle is required to open and close the valve partswhile permitting unrestricted additional movement of the operatingleveror handle to permit sequential operation of the valve and other controldevices.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve of the charactersetforth in which a 2-way valve is mounted in a single chamber to permitthe ready passage of fluid between the chamber and one pipe line andbetween the chamber and another pipe line or to permit closing of thechamber to both lines selectively.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from astudy of the following specifications, read in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig.1 is a perspective view of a valve constructed in accordance with myinvention and illustrated diagrammatically as being connected to a 2-waypiston and cylinder fluid power apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken through the valve illustratedin Fig. l and illustrating the valve parts in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2 but illustratingthe position of the valve parts upon operation 01' the valve handle tomove the fluid power mechanism in one direction;

Fig. 4 is a detail elevational view of the operating shaft of my valve;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along line V-V of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a similar transverse sectional view taken along line VI-VI ofFig. 4;

Fig. 7 is an exploded view illustrating the assembly of the valve partsincluded in one chamber of one valve; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary-sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII ofFig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a valve Iconstructed in accordance with my invention, such valve including a bodymember 2 which maybe constructed from a single block of suitablematerial such as metal or plastice material though. for the purpose ofpermitting my valve to control pressure of several hundreds of poundsand yet belight in weight, I prefer to form the valve body block 2 froma single piece of aluminum alloy such as Duralumin. The block isprovided with suitable ports 3, 4, 5 and 6 (see Fig. 2), to which may beconnected respectively the pipe lines coupling my valve to a suitablesource of pressure supply and to an operating fluid power apparatus, oneform of which is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. l as including acylinder I in which operates a piston 8 coupled by means of a piston rod9 to some piece of apparatus to be actuated thereby.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that port 3constitutes an inlet port for fluid pressure, to which may be coupled apipe line ill extending from a suitable. source of pressure supply (notshown).- The exhaust port 4 is similarly coupled to a pipe line H whichmay extend back to the pressure'supply or may merely permit exhaustingof the fluid pressure to the atmosphere. The port I has connectedthereto a pipe line l2 which-is illustrated as ex- I will alsmprovidefor greater freedom of now of tending to the forward end of the cylinderI I .whil the port 6 has connected thereto a pipe line I3 which extendsto the opposite end of the cylinder 1. i

As will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 2, the ports 3, 4, 5 and6 may be bored and threaded to take any of the standard pipe linecouplings or connectors such as illustrated at H.

Disposed between the ports 3' and 6 is a valve chamber A formed directlyin the body 2 of my valve, as by forming a bore which extends verticallydown through the valve body 2, the uppermost portion of the bore beingenlarged and threaded, as indicated at l5, to receive a cap nut l6.Immediately below the portion I5 is an enlarged chamber H, the metal ofthe body at the lower side of the chamber being-tapered to form an uppervalve seat l3. Below the valve seat l3 the bore is again enlarged asindicated at l9, the metal .of the body at the lower side of thisenlargement being tapered as indicated at 23. to form-a second or lowervalve seat, immediately beneath which is a third enlargement 2|, fromwhich a plurality of small bores 22 extend into a transverse bore 23adapted to receive and house an operating shaft 24 by which the valvestructure to be hereinafter described may be manipulated.

In order to adapt my valve for 4-way operation, as for example for thecontrolling of a reversible piston and cylinder apparatus 1 and 8, Iprovide a. second valve chamber bore B disposed between the ports 3 and5, this bore constituting a duplicate of the valve chamber borehereinbefore described including sections Ha, Ha, ISa, 2l a and upperand lower valve seats I8a and a and small bores 22a corresponding in allrespects to parts l5, l1, l8, I9, 23, 2| and 22 hereinbefore described.

In the valve chamber A I provide avvalve as-.

sembly, the parts of which are illustrated particularly in Fig. 6 asincluding an upper valve member 25 which includes a stem 26, upon theupper end of which is an enlarged head 21 formed with upwardly disposedshoulders 23 upon which the lower end of a valve closing spring-29 mayrest, a portion of the head 21 being formed with a suitable diameter toextend upwardly within the helixformed by the spring 29 toact as a guidefor this spring. The lowerv portion of the head 21 is tapered asindicated at 30 to form a tapered seating surface adapted to seat uponthe valve seat surface l3 while the head 21 is undercut as indicated at3| for the purpose of receiving the upper end of a second valve closingspring 32.

A lower valve member 33 comprises essentially a cylindrical sleevehaving an internal longitudinal bore 34 adapted to receive and pass thestem 26 of the upper valve member 25 and having an enlargement of thisbore at the upper end of the valve member 33, as indicated at 35,

. into which may be. received a'packing gland or groove will not onlyform the seating surface, but

fluid into the chamber 2la when the valve 33 is open. i

To achieve effective sealing between the stem "and the bore 34, I preferto make the packing member 36 in the form of an annular ring having anannular groove 39 extending from the upper face of the packing ring sothat the effect of fluid pressure upon the upper side of the ring 33will be to expand the packing ring into snug engagement both with thestem 26 and with the walls of the enlarged bore in the valve member 33.This ring 35 may be formed of rubber neop'rene or other suitablematerial and to insure against possible collapse of the ring 36 I preferto employ a spreader washer 40 disposed about the stem 26 and having adownwardly extending longitudinal flange 4| adapted to be received inthe groove 39. The upper face of the washer 43 also constitutes aneffective seat for the lower end of the valve closing spring 32.

The assembly illustrated in Fig. 6 may be inserted into the valvechamber A through the open upper end of the bore forming this chamberand will .be held in place by means of the cap screw l6 which I preferto form with-a socket 42 to receive and guide the upper end of the valveclosing spring 29.

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be ap-. parent that when thevalve assembly is disposed within the bore or chamber A, the upper valvemember 25 will be tightly pressed against its seat I3 by means of thespring 29 with the extreme lower end of the stem 26 of this valve memberprotruding below the lower end of the valve member 33. Likewise thevalve member 33 will be pressed tightly against its seat 20 by means ofthe spring 32, which bears at-its upper end against the valve member 25.It will be noted, therefore, thatthe upper spring 29 must made by themethods described and claimed in -bers I1, l9 and 2!.

my copending application Serial No. 330,752, filed April 20, 1940,wherein it is described that the valve chambersA and B are formed byproviding first. a straight bore through the valve body 2,

after which suitable tools described in the said application areemployed to enlarge p rtions of this bore to form the enlarged sectionsor chamby extending bores. from the upper face of the valve body 2' tothe desired depth, as indicated in Fig 2, and then by the use ofsuitable tools described in the said application the lower ends of thesebores may be enlarged sufficiently that the enlarged portions of theport bores intersect the. enlarged portions of the valve chamber bores.

By referring to 2, it will be observed that laraements or chambers l1and Na for both of of the valve' chamber 25.

the valve assemblies. Also it will he noted that der 1. At the same timepressure from the righthand end of the cylinder 1 will enter throughpipe l2 and port5 and will pass through enlargement 44 and enlargement afor chamber B so that if at this time valve member 3311 in chamber B isopen, such pressure will pass down to enlargement 2Ia and through thesmall bores 22a and into the handle chamber 23.

At this point it should be noted that the lefthand side of the handlechamber 23 communicates directly with exhaust port 4'and, as will beobserved from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 4, the valve operating shaftis provided with means which permits fluid to flow past the shaft 24 andout of port 4.

The operating shaft 24 comprises a rod-like member, the extremeleft-hand endof which is provided with a short bore 45 extendinglongitudinally into the end of the shaft so that a row of holes 41extending radially through that end of the shaft will provideintercommunication between shaft chamber 23 and the bore 45 to theexhaust port 4. That part of the operating shaft 24 which is disposedimmediately below the valve assembly in chamber A is provided with camsurfaces including a central surface 48, the length of whichlongitudinally of theshaft 24 is slightly in excess of the diameter ofthe protruding lower end of the stem Arranged on each side of thiscentral cam surface 45- is a pair of cam surfaces 49 which areduplicates of each other and adapted to engage the lower end of thelower valve member 33.

Similarly, that portion-of the shaft which is disposed immediately belowthe valve chamber B l is provided with cam surfaces 50 and 5| engaging,respectively, the lower endof the valve member 25 and the lower end ofthe valve member 33 disposed onchamber B.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will ,be observed that in thatfigure the operating shaft 24 is shown in the correct position to allowall four of thevalve members to he in closed position.Forconvenience'this will be assumed to be the position when a handle 52on the operating shaft 24 is in a vertical position.

Now by observing Fig. 5 it will be noted that the cam surface 50 is soformed that when the handle is in the vertical position the stem 25a ofthe valve member-25a will rest upon the lowest dwell of the cam. It willalso be observed that when the handleis in the vertical position, thecam surfaces 5 l' are so disposed below the lower-end ofthe valve member33a as'to'present the lowermost dwell of these surfaces to the valve33a. I However, with rotation of the handle member 52 to the left (thatis, in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1 and '5), thecam surface 5| will continue to present to the valve member "a thatportion of its surface 5la which ls concentric with the axis of rotationof the shaft 24 while during the first of such motion of the shaft 24,the cam surface 54 will lift thevalvestem lie, the entire movementbetween the fully closed position of the valve 250 and its fully openposition being accomplished during the first 60 of rotation of the shaft24. It will also be noted that the next portion 500: of the=cam surface58 is concentric with the axis of rotation of the shaft so that duringthe next 120 of-movement of the shaft-the valve 2612. will remain irritsfully open position.

New by observing Fig. 6, it will be noted that the cam surface 48 isidentical with the sur-= face Eli but is disposed 120 out of phase withthe surface 50 and that the cam surfaces 49 are identical with camsurfaces 54 but are likewise disposed 120" out of phase with the surfaceI 5!. It follows, therefore, that as the handle shaft i rotated in acounterclockwise direction through the 60 movement necessary to fullyopen valve 25a, valve 25 in chamber A will remain closed since its stemis riding upon the concentric portion of coin surface "and at the sametime the cam surfaces 49 will move the lower valve member 33 in chamberA to its fully open position. This is the arrangement of the valvepositions shown in Fig. 3.

Thus fluid pressure coming from the source of pressure from the pipe inand into and through the port 3 will pass down through the now openvalve 25a and thence through port 5 "and line 12 to the right-hand endof the cylinder 1, the exhaust from the opposite end of the cylinder 1passing through pipe I3 and into and through port 5, from whence itpasses through the now open valve 33 in chamber A and through smallbores 22 into the shaft chamber 23. It will be noted from an inspectionof Fig. '8 that the shaft bore 23 is enlarged immediately adjacent eachof the valve chambers A and B so that the small bores 22 may freelydischarge into' the shaft bore 23, the fluid then passing through theholes 41 in the shaft 24 and thence to the ex-' haust port 4.

With the valve in this position it is apparent that the piston 8 will bemoved toward the left-.

'. 24 as heretofore described, cause the opening of valve 25 in chamberA and the opening of valve 33a in chamber B, thus permitting pressurefluid in the pipe Ill to pass through the port 3 through now open valve25 and through port 5 into pipeline l3 to the left-hand end of thecylinder, where the exhaust from the righthand end of the cylinderpasses through pipe l2, port 5, now open valve 33a, and through thesmall bores 22a into the shaft bore 23. To permit the fluid exhaustedthrough the small bores 22:; to pass to the exhaust 4, I prefer toprovide a grooved or flattened portion 53 on the part of the shaft 24which is disposed between the cam surfaces .48 and 50. Thus the fluidmay pass along the shaft 24 and through the holes 41 and thence to theexhaust port 4.

To facilitate the construction of my valve, I prefer to provide a pairof bores 54 and 55 aligned respectively with the bores constituting thechambers A and B, which bores 54 and 55 may be made suiliciently largein diameter to readily multiplicity of small bores 22 and 22a in each ofthe valve chambers. In forming such bores 54 and BI, I prefer to allowthe drill to penetrate into the valve block 2 a sumcient distance tocome flush with or just pass beyond the upper sideof the longitudinalshaft bore 23 so that a substantially flat surface 56 is formedimmediately at the end of eachof the, valve mits the ports 3, I and t tobe arranged in a straight line with respect to each other.while thevalve bores may also be arranged in the chambers A and B to permit readydrilling of v the small bores 22 and 22a. The bores 54 and 55 may thenbe plugged as by using cap screws 51 and 5B threaded into the bores 54and 55 and sealed therein by means of suitable gaskets 59.

It will be noted that, like the cap screws I 6, there is an internalsocket B0 in each of the cap screws 51 which provides a relatively largefluid receiving chamber through which the discharge from valves 33 and33a, may readily pass and permits more ready communication between thegrooves 53 on, the shaft 24 with the fluid receiving chambers disposedbeneath each of the valve chamhas A and B and thus facilitate thepassage of fluid [from the valve 33a to the exhaust port 4.

Another feature of my valve is that of providing for relatively simplemachining operations by which all parts of the valve may bev constructedand to this end I employ as the g valve operating shaft 24 a simplelength of round .metal stock and form thecam surfaces thereon insuch-manner thatthe original round stock constitutes the bearing surfacewhich will rotatably bear upon the interior surfaces of a simple drilledhole extending from the right-hand end of my valve, as viewed in Fig. 2,to a point 6| spaced slightly to the left of the lower-end of the valvechamber A. Thus a multiplicity of excellent bearing surfaces areprovided in the bore 23 for rotatably mounting the shaft 24 andyetprovides for the ready passage of the fluid from the exterior of theshaftto the interior thereof at that end of the shaft immediately ad-'jacent the exhaust port 4.

The shaft 24 may be held in place within the valve'block 2 as byproviding a washer member 03 at the right-hand end of the shaft whichmay be readily attached to the right-hand end surface of the block 2 bymeans of suitable screws 64. The Washer 63 is provided with a small bore85 through which the extreme or handle end of the shaft 24 may projectwhile a shoulder 66 may be formed upon the shaft 24 toabut either theinner surface of the washer or a corresponding shoulder 61 formed in thewasher 63. The shaft may bereadily packed against leakage as byproviding an enlarged portion 68 of the shaft bore 23 immediatelyadjacent the right-hand end of the block 2 and into which may be pressedan annular packing ring 69 of rubber, "neoprene or other suitablematerial, such ring 69, like the packing rings 36, being provided withan annular groove upon their inner faces which will permit fluidpressure to expand the ring into same straight line whereby the entirethickness of the block 2 may be made extremely small.

The only limit to be placed upon this thickness 'is to insure anadequate thickness of wall between the side surfaces of the valve blockand the largest portion I! of the valve chamber. By actual test a valvecapable of handling 1,000 pounds per square inch pressure may be made byemploying my construction, with a total thickness of one inch, a totalheight of two inches and a total length of three inches.

Moreover, it will be noted that all of the ports 3, 4, 5 and 6 as wellas the bores through the block for the reception of the valve assembliesand the shaft are all made from the narrow edge faces of the block,leaving the two side surfaces of the valve entirely free from openingsor other possible obstructions and thus permitting these valves to beassembled one immediately against the other without interfering with.ready access to all of the valve parts and without interfering with theready connection of pipe lines to the various ports. This shape andconstruction also permits the ready mounting of the valves as by meansof screws, bolts, rods or the like extending through suitable mountingopenings H which may extend transversely through the block 2 and may bedisposed as illustrated in Fig. 2 through portions of the block notintersected by the various shaft bores, valve chamber bores andfluidport bores.

tight sealing relation with the shaft and with v the block 2. Again toprevent collapse of such ring, an annular ring 10 of metalmay beprovided to be received in the groove of the packthe ring, 69; 4

n will be apparent from the foregoing description that my valve, may bereadily con structed with a series of relatively simple drilling andboring operations while the arrangement of the intersecting enlargementsof. the

various bores provides for the intercommunieating passages between theports and the valve, chambers. Moreover, such arrangement. per- Afurther advantage of my valve lies in the the fact that all of theoperating parts of the valve are accessible without disconnection of anyof the pipe lines since all that is required to remove, repair andreplace any of the valve parts is to remove the cap screws l8, whereuponthe entire valve assembly shown in Fig. 7 can be bodily removed from thevalve and a new assembly or such new parts as may be required may beinserted. Also the shaft maybe readily. removed without disconnection ofany of the pipe lines by merely removing the valve assemblies and thenremoving the shaft.

As pointed out hereinbei'ore, the movement of the handle 52 away fromits vertical position in.

either direction will operatethe valves, while movement of the handlethrough 60 or less may be utilized to completely, open the valves. Thefurther movement of the handle through the remaining portions of fromthe vertical causes no further change in the position of the valves.This is of great importance in certain types of controls, particularlyfor airplanes, wherein by interconnecting the handles or shafts ofseveral of these valves with a lever or connecting bar, one valve may befully opened durins a small amount of movementof the connectingban-while another valve may be opened by a further movement of the bar,and another valve may be opened by a still further movement of the bar,permitting at least three valves-tobe operated in a desired sequence andinsuring complete operation of each of thevalves,

Also in connection with the operation of bomb release mechanism; thevalvesmay befreadily employed on a single operating banfor lever thelever or bar may trip the bomb release triggers.

While as described herein the valve seats may be formed directly uponthe metal of the body block 2, particularly when such block isconstructed of such materials as Duralumin" and employed with valvemembers of steel or similar metal, it will be apparent to those skilledin this art that separate valve seats may be formed as inserts to beplaced within the valve bores to constitute the actual seating surfacesupon which the valve members may rest.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details ofconstruction shown or described herein, except as defined inthe-appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a fluid control valve, a body member, a valve chamber boreextending from one surface of said body member and including inprogressively spaced relation from said surface a portion of onediameter, an enlargement of said bore, a valve seat shoulder havingadiameter substantially equal to the, first named diameter,

a third fluid port bore extendin in axial alignment with said sh'aftbore and communicating therewith and means extending throughvsaid shaftand intercommunicating said valve chamber bore and said last named fluidport bore for between said surface and the first valve seat a secondenlargement of said bore, a second valve seat shoulder having a diameterequal to or less than the diameter of said first seat shoulder, a thirdenlargement of said bore, a cylindrical portion of smaller diameterextending below said third enlargement, an operating shaft boreextending transversely below and communicating with the lower end ofsaid valve chamber bore, and a valve assembly in said valve chamber boreincluding in progressively spaced relation from said surface a cap forthe upper end of said bore,

a spring engaging said cap, an upper valve seated upon said first seatand held thereon by said spring, a second spring engaging said uppervalve, a second valve seated upon said second seat and held thereon bysaid second spring, said second valve having a cylindrical portionextending through the lowermost cylindrical portion of said valvechamber bore and into said shaft bore, and a stem on said first valveextending through said second valve and into said shaft bore.

2. In a fluid control valve, a body member, a valve chamber boreextending from one surface of said body member and including a pair ofvalve seats arranged in longitudinal spaced relation along said bore, avalve for each of said seats, an operating shaft bore extendingtransversely of and intersecting said valve chamber bore, an operatingshaft in said shaft bore, means on said shaft for independently engagingand lifting either of said valves from its seat, a fluid port boreextending from said surface and parallel to the longitudial axis of saidvalve chamber bore, means intercommunicating said fluid port bore andsaid valve chamber bore between said surface and said first valve seat,a second fluid port bore extending from said surface and parallel to theaxis of said valve chamber bore, means interconnecting said second fluidport bore with saidvalve chamber bore between said two seats,

therein, a second and third fluid port bores extending from said surfaceandparallel to said valve chamber bores, one disposed beside one of saidvalve chamber bores, the other disposed beside the other of said valvechamber bores, fluid passage means intercommunicatin-g said fluid portbores and their adjacent valve chamber bores between the valve seats ofthat bore, a fourth fluid port bore extending in a direction transverseto and intersecting the lower ends of both of said valve chamber bores,a valve assembly in each of said valve chamber'bores including an uppervalve engaging said upper seat and a lower valve engaging said lowerseat, and operating means for said valves extending into said fourthfluid port bore for simultaneously lifting, the upper valve in one ofsaid chamber bores and the lower valve in the other of said chamberbores and for simultaneously lifting the lower valve in said first valvechamber and the upper valve in the second chamber.

4. In a fluid control valve, a body member, a valve chamber boreextending from one surface of said body member, a pair of valve seatsarranged in spaced relation along said bore, fluid passagescommunicating with said bore, one disposed between said surface and saidfirst seat and another disposed between said seats, a pair of valves,one for each of said seats disposed in said chamber for longitudinalmovement relative to said bore, each of said valves being positionedabove their respective seats, the uppermost of said valves having anoperating stem extending through and projecting beyond the lower of saidvalves, a shaft bore extending into said body member and intersectingthe axis of said valve chamber bore, an operating shaft mounted forrotation in said shaft bore, means on said shaft for independentlyengaging said lower valve and the stem of said upper valve forselectively lifting said valves from said seats by rotation of saidshaft, a fluid passage interconnecting, said shaft bore with said valvechamber bore immediately below the lower one'of' said seats, a dischargepassage, and means communicating said discharge passage with said shaftbore.

I one o. MARTIN.

